Unemployment rises to 30-month high of 4.7%

Ireland's unemployment rate hit its highest rate in two-and-a-half years in July, rising to 4.7 per cent from an upwardly revised 4.5 per cent a month earlier, Central Statistics Office data showed on Tuesday.

Data for March to May that had previously put the jobless rate near a record low in each month at 4 per cent were also revised higher, meaning unemployment has now risen steadily for five successive months from 4.1 per cent in February.

According to Conor Delves, Statistician in the CSO's Labour Market Analysis Section: "The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 136,100 in July 2024, compared with 129,000 in June 2024. There was an increase of 16,200 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in July 2024 when compared with a year earlier."

Economists consider an unemployment rate of 4 per cent or less in the Irish labour market as tantamount to full employment.

In its most recent quarterly economic bulletin, the Central Bank said in June that it expects the jobless rate to remain low at around 4.5 per cent for the full year and out to 2026, “signalling the economy is operating at full employment”.